Day 2
Monday
Sharon: Peter is an early riser; Rick is next in the line to get up and I’m so excited I get up too. I open the tent door and immediately notice the fog among us. The sun shining through the fog silhouettes Peter and Rick. It is time to take pictures and since I have my telephoto lens on, I take the pictures from inside the tent.
I then proceed to our canoe, paddle out into the still river and take pictures of our first campsite. Rick yells to me to come back, for he wants to take pictures of me in the canoe. With the sound of a Loon surrounded by mist I paddle in a circle enjoying the view around me.
Back
at the camp area there are mushrooms of all sorts.
One of them an Indian Pipe growing under the dark under bush, very
translucent and a prize for me to see twice in my lifetime.
One by one Mike, Brent, Dawnna, Warren and Sandy awake.
Granola is on the list for breakfast and two percolators of coffee are
on. We are sitting on the rocks
enjoying breakfast and the fog was long lifted.
Our canoes are packed and off we paddle looking at the map and reading
the land. “We are here I think,”
both voices of Peter and Mike talk out exactly where they are on the map. I’m
not sure.
(Click here for a bigger map)
Peter: Mike noted that these rapids, P4 and P5, are wrongly shown on the map. They are actually located at the first narrows point. The rapids indicated are just fast water.
Portage P 4, 205 metres long, is at a class 2 rapid, which we ran, but the next rapid, P5, is just a few hundred metres downstream, 325 metres long, and a class 3 rapid.
With the sound of rapids in the distance that are unseen at this time, my imagination goes wild because I can’t picture rapid grades. They are surprisingly easy with just a few small bumps on the rock. When we reach another rapid, Sandy and Warren go first and they do very well. Rick and I go next; we misjudge the quickness of the river and my stroke to over draw more times than once isn’t enough. We barely miss a huge rock alongside the right shore. We hit another rock and spin around going backwards. With the scenery flying by backwards, we paddle backwards too. Rick eddys right, since he’s in front now. We’re in and full of water, Rick starts bailing it out. We discuss what we should have done and what went wrong, but we did well.
Rick and Sharon paused to bail half way down.
Mike and Peter come down next and do it rather smoothly, but the river gets them just as wet and full of water. They eddy our way and start to bail out the water. They compliment our trick maneuver and we laugh together. We continue down the rapid, which seems calmer than the upper part and paddle in.
Mike and Peter swamped. They tried to stay on the left of the channel, but the river pushed them to the right. The canoe filled at the top of the rapids and was then not very maneuverable down the lower easier part.
Rick and Sharon hit a rock.
Dawnna walks down the portage;
While Brent, with Warren in the bow, hit a rock and put a big dent in the canoe.
At our next rapid Sandy, Dawnna and I walk along the portage trail
carrying packs. I take pictures of
mushrooms that look like coral while eating blueberries and cranberries.
During our walk I notice a huge tree downed by a beaver.
As Brent carries his canoe down the trail, the rest of the guys canoe
down through the rapids. For Rick
the canoe without packs is very tipsy, I guess Rick looked very awkward but
funny before he dumped. Mike has
arrived at the end of the portage and just can’t wait to write into his map.
Shortly after Warren and Rick have arrived, Rick is wet and disappointed
for he lost his filleting knife back there, but Warren is disappointed that we
didn’t take pictures of the rapid run.
Setting off again it didn’t take long before we arrive to camp at our
next destination, White Falls. It
wasn’t long before all of us were running around for the best site, throwing
down a hat for the claim. Still
early in the day there was a chance for everybody to enjoy and relax at this
place. They were either lying in the waterfalls enjoying the water
running over them, swimming below the falls or fishing at the top.
Rick and I went fishing for Walleye below the falls.
Not long after, the guys joined us.
I caught the big one of 3 lbs. Rick mentioned that it was too bad a weigh
scale wasn’t handy, knowing I had caught a big fish.
Warren, one with the gadgets, came out with a small hand held scale. Rick said, “Only you would have one, I should’ve
known.”
The river then widened out into a small lake as we approached Tuck Falls, which is a spectacular 5 metre drop. It is rated class 6.
The portage is over bare rock just above the falls, so the approach was made with care. It was only 12 noon, but there was a good campsite and the guide comment about excellent walleye fishing below the falls excited the group.
Warren is taken with White Falls and he wants to canoe solo over them. This causes a little commotion from the group for we worry about him. Warren is very positive and continues to plan his line to canoe down. To catch the action we all had our cameras out, above and below the waterfalls with Rick and I in the canoe to rescue.
We are all relieved and impressed when Warren safely canoes over the
thundering slope of White Falls.
Brent looked at the dent in his canoe which we hammered out with a rock,
and then took a cool shower in the falls, while Mike braved the water and swam.
Meanwhile, everyone went fishing. When Peter found that the spoiled locals only kept walleye (pickerel) and were throwing jackfish (Northern pike) back he persuaded them to keep some of those too, which was agreed on condition that Peter filleted these bony fish.
Mike fished at the top of the falls, unsuccessfully, and Rick at the bottom with more success but Sharon was the champion fisher on the team getting 4 walleye.
Catching enough fish for supper was a treat for there’s nothing like fresh Walleye. After supper Rick and I go swimming below the falls and we take in the scenery around us. By the time we walked to the top to enjoy the sun, it was fast disappearing. Relaxing by the campsite taking in the calmness of the river with reflecting clouds and the sunset was a sight to see.
Gorged with walleye fried in shake 'n bake and butter, and a ration of rye, we went to bed.
We slept into the night with the distant sounds of the waterfalls below.
